Solidarity wins, for now

In the end of January 2008 the city of Patras, Greece lived through some unprecedented events, some events that could potentially change dramatically the relationship between the local society and the city's huge wave of recent migrants.

Newly-formed Indymedia Patras reports:

In the past few years, thousands of migrants (primarily of Afghani and Kurdish origin) amass at the gates of the port of Patras in the hope of clinging on the back of one of the lorries boarding the vessels to Italy (:: brief history). In a most dramatic depiction of fortress-Europe, the migrants are constantly faced with unbearable living conditions in shanty town-type settlements, humiliation and prosecution by the "welcoming" authorities of the city.

On Thursday, 29th of January, in an unprecedented move, the vast majority of the settlement's residents (over 1,000) joined in the solidarity demonstration and demanded their rights to dignity and asylum (:: full report and photos from the demonstration, :: photos and :: more photos). The demonstration took the authorities by surprise and local mass media report that in its light, the knocking down of the remainder of the settlement is to be postponed. For now, solidarity has won in the city of Patras.